UW Highlights

Wyoming Public Media

As Wyoming’s only university, the University of Wyoming is committed to explore, create, and share knowledge. Wyoming Public Media captures the work of scholars, learners, and leaders who are committed to serving the state of Wyoming and contributing to national and international intellectual growth. You can hear some of our stories and features on these pages. They reflect the work of hundreds of individuals dedicated to the University of Wyoming vision to imagine the future and to create it.

The University of Wyoming’s student government is ramping up accountability for groups on campus. A new policy implemented this fall suspends registered student organizations from ASUW funding if found in violation of financial policies.

The first group to be suspended under the new policy was the UW chapter of Turning Point USA. The group brought Dennis Prager, conservative radio personality, to speak on campus this fall.

An interaction between the UW Police Department and the UW student newspaper has prompted the university to clarify its policy regarding the rights and obligations of student journalists.

In a November 3 article, Branding Iron reporter Destiny Irwin reported on allegations that an unnamed resident assistant sexually assaulted women in a dorm. Irwin quoted Resident Assistant Rachel MacDonald, who said the incidents caused Residence Life to change its hiring practices.

In early November, protests broke out at the University of Wyoming over an invitation to conservative radio host Dennis Prager to speak on campus. On Wednesday, December 6, the UW debate team will face members of the conservative student group, Turning Point USA, that invited Prager to discuss the decision.

The University of Wyoming Art Museum will welcome a new director this January. Marianne Eileen Wardle has spent the last eleven years as Curator of Academic Initiatives at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Her duties at UW begin January 29.

Wardle’s background is in art scholarship and art curation. While at Duke, she also taught courses in art history, women’s studies, and museum studies.

Students walked out of class at the University of Wyoming Monday to draw attention to the administration’s handling of sexual assault. The organizers believe the school should be doing more, so they drafted a letter to UW President Laurie Nichols outlining a list of actions that should be taken to improve safety on campus.

This follows a recent report of sexual assault by an unknown perpetrator in a UW parking lot.

Students at the University of Wyoming will pay higher fees for academic programs after the Board of Trustees approved the increase. The fees will go towards program supplies and materials, enhanced advising and career preparation, and are meant to offset university-wide funding reductions.

Starting fall of 2018, students will pay a fee per credit hour for each class they take, and the cost will depend on the course. Fees range from $3 to $25 per credit hour, and students in labs or visual and performing arts classes can expect to pay higher amounts.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen is the former Prime Minister of Denmark and the former Secretary General of NATO. Rasmussen made his first trip to Wyoming this week discussing the topic of America’s will to lead, or perhaps not lead, when it comes to world affairs.

Rasmussen thinks it’s essential to return to being the world’s leader. Bob Beck asked him what he thought about the Trump administration’s approach.

In early September the Virgin Islands were struck by two category five hurricanes fourteen days apart. Today, the islands' infrastructure remains badly damaged and nearly 73 percent of residents are still without power. A student from the University of Wyoming was in the Virgin Islands when Irma, the first of the two hurricanes, hit.

For six hours a day for the last five days straight, volunteers have read off the names of the six million Jewish and five million other victims of the Nazi regime, as a part of Holocaust Remembrance Week at the University of Wyoming. But the week also wrapped up with a letter from President Laurie Nichols to the campus, addressing recent issues of free speech and inclusiveness at UW.

November 8 is the first annual First-Generation College Celebration. The national event recognizes the anniversary of the Higher Education Act of 1965, and honors the achievements of first-generation students.

Around 30 percent of college and university students are the first in their family to pursue higher education. Research says first-generation students are significantly less likely to complete a bachelor’s degree than their non-first-generation peers.

Both private and public institutions are bound by federal law to respond to reports of sexual harassment and abuse. In the workplace, it’s Title 7. In educational settings, it’s Title 9. But this fall the U.S. Department of Education announced it plans to overhaul the guideline. In response, UW law students organized a panel of university administrators to discuss potential changes. A Laramie attorney — who has represented a student facing sexual misconduct violations — spoke out at the event.

At an evening rehearsal at UW’s Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts, the cast of Fascism: The Musical started with some standard warmups, their voices flicking up and down over arpeggios. But once they dug into the meat of the show’s songs, it was clear this is not a standard musical.

There’s the “Socialism Polka,” women in American flag bikinis, and a song about trickle-down economics that likens the idea to bodily functions.

It’s been a rough couple of years for the University of Wyoming where budget cutting, layoffs, and reorganization have been themes. Lately, the focus has been on less stressful ventures like enhancing STEM teaching, diversity, and a variety of initiatives.

One issue for University of Wyoming President Laurie Nichols is to try to address that lack of faculty and staff pay raises. She tells Bob Beck that those raises should be here by July.

Five U.S. soldiers lost their lives just in the month of October. And their names will be among the 7,000 read aloud on November 10 outside the University of Wyoming student union as a part of the National Roll Call in honor of Veterans Day.

The event, which happens on university campuses across the country, recognizes the service members who have died in military operations since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The event begins at 8 a.m. with the presentation of the colors and will conclude with a performance of “Taps” around 7 pm.

#metoo started flooding social media following the news about film producer Harvey Weinstein. Now the campaign has extended beyond women in Hollywood — inspiring millions of people to speak out about their experiences with sexual harassment and assault. But what happens when students come forward at the University of Wyoming? This is the third story in a series looking at Title IX and schools’ responsibility to respond to sexual misconduct.

Women engineers face a lot of challenges, some of which begin as early as their college education, where they are highly outnumbered by their male peers in the classroom.

To address this disparity, the University of Wyoming has launched a new mentoring program, that pairs female engineering undergraduates with female alumni working in the field. Wyoming Public Radio’s Maggie Mullen spoke with Teddi Freedman, a Senior Coordinator for UW’s College of Engineering that is heading up the new program.

A lab devoted to tinkering, playing and experimenting has opened its doors in the Coe Library at the University of Wyoming. There among stacks of books is the Makerspace — with large worktables, an electronics bench and four 3D printers.

When lawmakers created the Hathaway Scholarship in 2005, it was meant to encourage all Wyoming high school students to go to college by making it easier to afford.

However, there is one group of Wyoming students that will never qualify for the Hathaway Scholarship: those without U.S. citizenship.

Isabel Perez entered the Wyoming public school system when she was ten years old, shortly after her family left Mexico City for Green River. Perez came to the U.S. without documentation, but said she grew up to be a regular American teenager.

As we head deeper into October, the nights get longer, a chill fills the air, and the time is right for telling scary stories. In this story produced by Wyoming Public Radio’s Caroline Ballard we’ll hear from one woman who lived in the Pi Beta Phi women’s fraternity house on UW’s campus – but she and her sisters weren’t the only residents.

The University of Wyoming Geological Museum and Coe Library are teaming up to digitize more than 5,000 specimens from the museum’s rare fossil mammal collection. The project was made possible by a $100,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

From immigration policy to environmental regulations to sexual harassment, Law Week at the University of Wyoming tackles timely and contentious legal topics. Starting October 16, the week of panel discussions hosted at the College of Law is open to the public.

Celebrating its 17th year, the Wyoming Latina Youth Conference hosted young Wyoming women of Hispanic descent for two days of programming in Laramie on October 13 and 14. The theme this year was, “embracing leadership, science, and creativity.”

Over 200 female students in 5th through 12th grade attended workshops on science, technology, and creativity, in order to foster a belief in the power to choose their future.

Mule deer can migrate a little bit easier starting this year thanks to new fencing along their migration route. Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department replaced old livestock fencing this summer with the help of several partners including the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust Fund, Upper Green Muley Fanatics, Jonah Energy, and the Conservation Fund.

Mule deer migrate from Hoback, south of Jackson, to the Red Desert every year. It allows them to get the best vegetation and find the safest areas to raise fawns.

Large crowds turned out for the grand opening of the new Native American Education, Research and Cultural Center on the University of Wyoming campus. Eastern Shoshone elder Stanford Devinney blessed the new center with a prayer while the building received a cedaring ceremony from Northern Arapaho elder Crawford White.